Greece Arrests Suspected Radicals

Published 7:00 pm, Saturday, February 1, 2003

Three suspected members of a radical far-left group _ including the mayor of an Aegean Sea island _ were arrested in weekend raids by police, authorities said Sunday.

The raids were part of a major police effort to smash shadowy Greek terror groups ahead of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.

The suspects, arrested Saturday and Sunday, were identified as Angeletos Kanas, the 52-year-old mayor of the Aegean Sea island of Kimolos, Constantine Agapiou, 56, a civil engineer and 49-year-old Irene Athanasaki.

Police spokesman Lefteris Economou said the three were accused of participation in a terrorist group, the Revolutionary Popular Struggle, or ELA, which has eluded authorities since it first appeared in 1975.

All three were being questioned at Greek police headquarters in central Athens and were to appear before a public prosecutor. Police also questioned more than a dozen people, none of whom were held.

ELA claimed responsibility for the murder of two police officers and more than 100 bomb attacks _ including many American commercial targets _ before it officially disbanded in 1995.

Police believe ELA was closely tied to a deadlier Greek guerrilla group, November 17, which was broken up last year. Nineteen people arrested as suspected members of November 17 are to go on trial next month.

November 17 is named after the day of a bloody 1973 student revolt that helped topple a Greek dictatorship the next year. The group is blamed for 23 murders, including four American officials, and scores of bomb and rocket attacks.

ELA and November 17 were the deadliest of a number of Greek urban guerrilla organizations, violently opposed to the U.S. military presence in Greece but who also targeted Greece's business elite.

Government spokesman Christos Protopapas said Sunday that the investigation into domestic terrorism has entered a crucial stage.

"I would advise everyone to be patient," he said.

Kanas was detained in Athens Saturday after visiting his lawyer. He had angrily denied any involvement in ELA, after his name appeared in Greek media reports.

"He denies all charges," said Kanas' lawyer, Yiannis Tzovaras. "He has nothing to do with this organization."

Kimolos is located 95 miles southwest of Athens.

A handful of protesters from anarchist groups gathered near the Greek police headquarters in central Athens to support the three suspects.